Snow White is a Tree in Celtic Stories
By accident I encountered the tale of Gold-tree and Silver-tree (in Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales, Editor: Joseph Jacobs), which is a clear parallel of the story of Snow White.
Plot: Silver-tree is a queen, her daughter being Gold-tree, the princess. The queen asks a trout in a well whether she is the most beautiful; the trout replies it is the princess. The queen asks to eat the princess's heart and liver, but the princess has gotten married and is abroad. The king orders a huntsman to bring the heart and liver of a he-goat.
The queen asks the trout again and learns that the princess lives. She orders a ship to visit her daughter. When she arrives, the princess's husband is out hunting. The princess is protected by locking her in a room, but the queen stabs her in the finger with a poisoned stab. The prince returns and keeps his wife's body locked away in a room. The prince remarries, and the second wife discovers the body, pulls out the stab, and Gold-tree the princess wakes up.
The queen asks the trout again and learns that the princess still lives. She again orders a ship to visit her. When she arrives, the prince is again out hunting. Both Gold-tree and the second wife meet the queen and force her to drink the drink she brought. It was poison, and the queen dies.
The first symbolic parallel to note is the recurrence of hunting: in Snow White, it is a huntsman who spares Snow White with a similar trick; with Gold-tree, the huntsman tricks the queen, and her husband is always out hunting. The connection between hunting (bringing death so one could live) and the death / resurrection of Snow White - Gold-tree appears obvious.
The second, more intriguing parallel is based on the question why the queen and the prince are visualised as trees in the Celtic story. Note that the dwarfs are miners in Snow White, who go underground to bring up value. Similarly, the trees in the Celtic story reach underground to bring up nutrients and create life.
Snow White can be said to connect the over-ground (snow) with the under-ground (mining), just as how she straddles dying and being alive. The visual element of the tree in the Celtic story may serve a similar purpose, connecting the two worlds via the roots and leaves. These connecting elements mirror Levi-Strauss's analysis of Cinderella and Ash-Boy (see The Structural Study of Myth).
Plot: Silver-tree is a queen, her daughter being Gold-tree, the princess. The queen asks a trout in a well whether she is the most beautiful; the trout replies it is the princess. The queen asks to eat the princess's heart and liver, but the princess has gotten married and is abroad. The king orders a huntsman to bring the heart and liver of a he-goat.
The queen asks the trout again and learns that the princess lives. She orders a ship to visit her daughter. When she arrives, the princess's husband is out hunting. The princess is protected by locking her in a room, but the queen stabs her in the finger with a poisoned stab. The prince returns and keeps his wife's body locked away in a room. The prince remarries, and the second wife discovers the body, pulls out the stab, and Gold-tree the princess wakes up.
The queen asks the trout again and learns that the princess still lives. She again orders a ship to visit her. When she arrives, the prince is again out hunting. Both Gold-tree and the second wife meet the queen and force her to drink the drink she brought. It was poison, and the queen dies.
The first symbolic parallel to note is the recurrence of hunting: in Snow White, it is a huntsman who spares Snow White with a similar trick; with Gold-tree, the huntsman tricks the queen, and her husband is always out hunting. The connection between hunting (bringing death so one could live) and the death / resurrection of Snow White - Gold-tree appears obvious.
The second, more intriguing parallel is based on the question why the queen and the prince are visualised as trees in the Celtic story. Note that the dwarfs are miners in Snow White, who go underground to bring up value. Similarly, the trees in the Celtic story reach underground to bring up nutrients and create life.
Snow White can be said to connect the over-ground (snow) with the under-ground (mining), just as how she straddles dying and being alive. The visual element of the tree in the Celtic story may serve a similar purpose, connecting the two worlds via the roots and leaves. These connecting elements mirror Levi-Strauss's analysis of Cinderella and Ash-Boy (see The Structural Study of Myth).
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